Fair Lending Shake-Ups: CFPB Vacates Townstone Settlement, FHFA Ends GSEs' Special Purpose Credit Programs — The Consumer Finance Podcast
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On May 28, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion to terminate its redlining consent order against a New Jersey-based bank. The five-year order, entered in September 2022, resolved allegations that the banks violated...more
On March 26, the CFPB, in its first press release in over 50 days, announced its intention to seek to vacate a redlining settlement previously imposed on a nonbank retail-mortgage creditor and broker based in Chicago. As...more
On March 19, 2025, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) issued Mortgagee Letter (ML) 2025-08 titled “Rescinding Multiple Appraisal Policy Related Mortgagee Letters.” As the title suggests, FHA rescinded three mortgagee...more
On March 12, Arkansas enacted HB 1466 which amends the state’s Fair Mortgage Lending Act. HB 1466 introduces a set of definitions and regulatory requirements for mortgage brokers, bankers, servicers, loan officers, and...more
Following lengthy litigation, the CFPB is attempting to close the books on its case against Townstone Financial alleging discriminatory lending practices and redlining African American neighborhoods in Chicago....more
On October 29, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the state’s Division on Civil Rights (DCR) released a report detailing the findings of a multi-year investigation into Republic First Bank (Republic) and its...more
Previously, I have written about regulatory enforcement of anti-redlining regulations. I pointed out the problems and potentially misleading statistical conclusions caused by the application of what is called a “REMA” or...more
In this month's article, we share some of our top "bites" for the prior and current month covered during the July 2024 webinar....more
As any bank professional regulatory compliance professional knows redlining is the hottest issue today and has been since Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the “Combatting Redlining Initiative” in October 2021. Since...more
In a recent article in National Mortgage Professional entitled "Manufacturing Fair Lending”, former chief of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section at the Department of Justice under Attorney General William Barr, Paul...more
In emails in recent months we've warned bankers about the extremely aggressive enforcement of anti-redlining policies. This is becoming more and more obvious every day as more banks get threatened with referral to the DOJ....more
On May 13, HUD announced an agreement with a mortgage lender to resolve allegations of Fair Housing Act violations. According to the redacted agreement, a complaint was filed with HUD last August accusing the mortgage company...more
Every banker should know by now that the Department of Justice announced an “Anti-Redlining” crusade in October 2021. In his October 2021, press release, Attorney General Merrick Garland, proclaimed that redlining is...more
For the last two years, the federal regulatory agencies have been waging a war on redlining by mortgage lenders — a war that shows no signs of abating. Originally published in Law360 - December 12, 2023....more
As 2024 gets off the ground, federal regulators are continuing their focus on fair lending issues. In February, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) released a statement on examination principles...more
There has been much understandable handwringing about the new CRA and its complexity as well as the high CRA exam failure rate predicted by regulators based on the new assessment areas and the higher performance standards...more
As I write this article the Department of Justice is pursuing a record-breaking number of “redlining” cases against banks and mortgage lenders. The “Anti-redlining Initiative” was announced October 22, 2021, by Attorney...more
On November 2, the CFPB issued a new report on state Community Reinvestment Act laws. The report found that many states adopted Community Reinvestment Acts (CRAs) similar to the federal Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. The...more
On October 19, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that its Combating Redlining Initiative has resulted in over $107 million in relief for communities adversely affected by lending discrimination by mortgage...more
On July 26, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its Summer 2023 Supervisory Highlights describing key findings and violations identified during examinations conducted between July 2022 and March 2023....more
In this month's article, we share some of our top "bites" for the prior month covered during the July 2023 webinar. Bite 10: Public Inquiry Launched into Credit Card and Loan Products for Healthcare Costs - On July 7,...more
As shown by a new report, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau) is focusing its fair lending work on mortgage origination and pricing, small business lending, redlining, and the use of artificial...more
The CFPB recently issued its annual fair lending report covering its fair lending activity in 2022....more
On April 5, FHFA announced updates to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s (GSEs) equitable housing finance plans for 2023. The updates include adjustments to plans first announced last year, which faced pushback from several...more
The national and administrative focus on advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities keeps fair servicing in the foreground as a top priority for mortgage servicers. In this webinar, you’ll hear from a...more